S2 THE DIVIDED DIAL EPISODE 4: Wall St. Wants Your Airwaves

Summary

Podcast Summary: On the Media – S2E4: "Wall St. Wants Your Airwaves"

Introduction to the Battle Over Shortwave Radio

In the final episode of the second season of On the Media’s series Divided Dial, hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger delve into the ongoing struggle for control over shortwave radio frequencies. This episode, titled "Wall St. Wants Your Airwaves", explores the contrasting visions for the future of shortwave radio: the free-spirited pirates versus the profit-driven financiers from Wall Street.

Katie Thornton’s Awakening to Shortwave Radio

Katie Thornton shares her personal journey into the world of shortwave radio, highlighting the medium's transformation over the years.

“This is a matter of life and death for the church.”
— Katie Thornton [04:36]

Thornton recounts her first experience attempting to tune into a shortwave broadcast in Wisconsin, describing the excitement and the sense of discovery that comes with hunting for elusive signals. Her initial solo exploration soon evolves into a communal activity, connecting her with fellow shortwave enthusiasts like Matt Todd.

The Current Landscape of Shortwave Radio

Shortwave radio, once a cornerstone of global communications, has dwindled in everyday relevance but remains a niche hobby in the United States. Katie explains how, despite its reduced mainstream presence, shortwave continues to serve as a lifeline in various parts of the world.

“Shortwave radio is still a lifeline here in the US. Though these days, it's mostly a hobby.”
— Katie Thornton

Pirates vs. Profiteers: Clashing Visions

The episode juxtaposes two distinct groups vying for dominance over the shortwave spectrum:

1. Pirate Radio Enthusiasts: These individuals broadcast without licenses, seeking to reclaim the airwaves for diverse and unconventional content. They view shortwave as a space for freeform expression, offering a variety of programming that contrasts sharply with corporate-controlled media.

   “People have been writing us in. It's nice. Good. I was surprised at how many people were just so thrilled to hear it on there.”
   — Matt Todd [08:25]

2. Wall Street Traders and the Shortwave Modernization Coalition: Comprising finance professionals and tech entrepreneurs, this group aims to repurpose shortwave frequencies for high-speed trading operations. Their goal is to exploit the marginal speed advantages that shortwave signals offer over existing technologies.

   “The faster the trade can be completed, the more money that can be made...”
   — Bennett Cobb [22:11]

The Shortwave Modernization Coalition’s Agenda

Bennett Cobb reveals that major financial firms, such as Virtue Financial Inc. and Tower Research Capital LLC, have formed the Shortwave Modernization Coalition. Their petition to the FCC seeks to formalize the use of shortwave frequencies for private trading, arguing that it offers a speed advantage of approximately 9 milliseconds over traditional internet and satellite methods.

“We think it's time for us to make some money.”
— Shortwave Modernization Coalition Representative [27:01]

This coalition’s push represents a significant shift in the use of public airwaves, challenging the longstanding public-interest mandate of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Implications of Privatizing the Electromagnetic Spectrum

The episode underscores the broader implications of privatizing portions of the electromagnetic spectrum:

• Public Resource vs. Private Gain: Natalia Fotich, a telecom attorney, emphasizes that the electromagnetic spectrum is a public resource meant to serve the collective interest. Privatizing it for exclusive financial gain undermines its foundational purpose.

  “The electromagnetic spectrum is like an invisible rainbow... it's a public resource owned by all of us.”
  — Natalia Fotich [23:28]

• Regulatory Challenges: The FCC’s potential approval of the coalition’s petition could set a precedent for further privatization, echoing recent congressional efforts to auction more frequencies for corporate use.

  “The Shortwave Modernization Coalition isn’t proposing to do away with shortwave broadcasting... but they're fundamentally changing its purpose.”
  — Katie Thornton [28:09]

Resistance and the Fight to Preserve Public Access

Despite the looming threat of privatization, there is resistance from shortwave advocates like Bennett Cobb and community members who value public access:

“But these airwaves, they're ours. Even when the government lends them out, the idea is that we, the public, get some kind of benefit back.”
— Katie Thornton [34:14]

Advocates argue that reallocating shortwave frequencies to high-speed trading offers no tangible benefits to the public and diminishes the democratic use of the airwaves.

Conclusion: The Future of Shortwave Radio

The episode concludes with a reflection on the importance of preserving the public nature of the electromagnetic spectrum. While shortwave radio may seem obsolete to many, its preservation is symbolic of broader battles over public resources and access in the digital age.

“I'm not saying they're firing up their bootleg transmitters and thinking I'm gonna illegally play dogs barking... but in practice, that's kind of the spirit.”
— Katie Thornton [38:30]

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Divided Dial wraps up by urging listeners to recognize the significance of the electromagnetic spectrum as a public asset and to support efforts that maintain its accessibility for diverse, non-commercial uses.

“The electromagnetic spectrum is the invisible backbone of our media ecosystem... it's yet another one of our public resources that's being eroded or turned over to private hands.”
— Katie Thornton [37:01]

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Katie Thornton [04:36]: “This is a matter of life and death for the church.”
• Bennett Cobb [22:11]: “The faster the trade can be completed, the more money that can be made...”
• Natalia Fotich [23:28]: “The electromagnetic spectrum is like an invisible rainbow... it's a public resource owned by all of us.”
• Katie Thornton [28:09]: “The Shortwave Modernization Coalition isn’t proposing to do away with shortwave broadcasting... but they're fundamentally changing its purpose.”
• Katie Thornton [34:14]: “But these airwaves, they're ours. Even when the government lends them out, the idea is that we, the public, get some kind of benefit back.”
• Katie Thornton [37:01]: “The electromagnetic spectrum is the invisible backbone of our media ecosystem...”
• Katie Thornton [38:30]: “I'm not saying they're firing up their bootleg transmitters and thinking I'm gonna illegally play dogs barking... but in practice, that's kind of the spirit.”

Conclusion

On the Media’s episode "Wall St. Wants Your Airwaves" effectively highlights the critical juncture at which shortwave radio stands today. It juxtaposes the nostalgic and communal aspects of pirate radio against the modern, profit-driven motives of financial elites, raising important questions about who controls our communication channels and for what purpose. As the FCC deliberates on the Shortwave Modernization Coalition’s petition, the future of shortwave radio—and by extension, the public's access to the electromagnetic spectrum—remains uncertain.

Transcript

[Ira Flatow]

Onthemedia is supported by the New York Community Trust. These days it's hard to know what the future will hold. Thankfully, there is a powerful way to ensure the causes you care about are supported for decades to come. Join the New York Community Trust to support affordable housing, provide opportunity, improve education, nurture the environment and more. A team of experts can connect your generosity with nonprofits making a lasting difference. You can turn retirement funds, appreciated securities, real estate and other assets into a force for good. Amplify your impact with community powered giving. Contact the New York community trust at GiveTo NYC. That's GiveTo NYC.

[Katya Rogers]

Hi, this is Katya Rogers EP of On the Media and I just want to thank you for listening to this season of the Divided Dial. It's been an amazing journey Katie and I have been on and thank you for listening to all four episodes. Just a quick reminder that we are able to bring you reporting like this because we're funded by you, by listeners. That means we have the freedom to dive into stories about subjects like shortwave radio. Who else is going to do that? If you've appreciated the divided dial, please step up and show your support so we can do more of this type of reporting. Show us that you want more by stepping up with a donation right now. Go to onthemedia.org donate to support this kind of journalism and everything we do at OnTheMedia. Thanks so much.

[Michael Oinger]

Hey, you're listening to the on the Media Midweek Podcast. I'm Michael Oinger. Over the last few weeks we've been airing our special series the Divided Dial, hosted by Katie Thornton. The first season was all about the right wing takeover of AM&FM radio. This season has been all about shortwave radio. It's not much talked about nowadays, but shortwave has had a storied history and that Katie laid out over the course of the first three episodes. If you haven't heard those, definitely pause this one and catch up first. This final episode features the story of a present day battle playing out between two very different groups. Here's Katie.

[Katie Thornton]

Okay, 11:07am May 18, 2024. A little over a year ago I tried for the first time ever to pick up the a shortwave radio broadcast. I'm out in Wisconsin as if on cue. Okay, it was a really nice spring day, if a little windy, so I was outside powered up. So this is fm. I found a little shortwave radio that my grandma had given my parents years ago before she died. Wide or narrow, I don't know what that means. It took me a while to Figure out how to use the thing. Just minimized the treble to try to get some of the static out. This is, like, such a stupid question, but does wind blow radio waves? How to find the frequencies that were active? Okay, I'm hearing a voice. 93, 33. No, come back. I feel like Jodie Foster in contact right now. Like, when her signal goes out and she thinks the aliens are gone. I'm like, that's me right now. But eventually I started picking stuff up. Oh, my gosh.

[Katya Rogers]

Voices, voices, voices.

[Katie Thornton]

The antenna's broken, so I'm just gonna grab a pliers quick and, like, squeeze it into place. What? Okay, I'm holding the pliers on the antenna. I'm getting way better reception. Like, let me. No, pliers. Pliers. Oh, my God. I think I'm an antenna. Let me try. Going back to 9,000, 330. 11, 20 kilohertz. Oh, my God. Going to keep surfing. Surfing the waves. Oh, my God. I just got fish and rock. Come back. I have to say, I've never been so excited to hear Christian rock. Once I got the hang of it, I started to pick up a lot of stuff. This is a matter of life and death for the church.

[Bennett Cobb]

The church will not repopulate itself.

[Katie Thornton]

I'm sorry. There's so many now. I heard world's last chance. Now we're going to get into the usage of the word almighty in the New Testament. Go with me to Revelation. I heard brother RG Stare the baby.

[Bennett Cobb]

That is a mercy.

[Katie Thornton]

I was just so excited. It was just me on my own for hours. Kind of like being caught in a social media scroll, but a lot less passive. And eventually I filled in my dad when he came into the room. Oh, you know what kind of station I heard earlier? It was just beep, beep, beep.

[Katya Rogers]

Which.

[Katie Thornton]

Is usually like a code that somebody's receiving. Yeah, isn't that crazy? Content be damned. I was loving the short waves. I can play it for you. This is season two of the Divided Dial from On the Media. I'm your host, Katie Thornton. This season, we've been talking all about shortwave radio. How it went from a utopian experiment in global communications to a haven for the far right, even if that's not necessarily what a lot of shortwave listeners want to hear in many parts of the world. Shortwave radio is still a lifeline here in the US Though these days it's mostly a hobby. But right now, there's a battle playing out on our shortwaves. It's taking place between two parties with very different visions for how the shortwaves should be used. And that ideological battle between the pirates and the profiteers tells us a lot about how we regard our public airwaves. On this final episode of this season of the Divided Dial, we go deep into the future of the shortwaves and why they might matter more than we think. In the years since I had that first solitary channel surfing experience, I've been able to tune in together with other shortwave listeners.

[Bennett Cobb]

I have six or seven antennas in.

[Katie Thornton]

The attic in their living rooms, in their modern day Radio Shacks. Okay, so this was an hoa, so I can't do a lot outside. And one of the folks I listened with was this guy, Matt Todd.

[Bennett Cobb]

It's a loop on the ground.

[Katie Thornton]

You can kind of see it out there. Oh, yeah, yeah, I see where it's. He lives about a half hour north of where I live in Minneapolis. And not unlike David Goren from episode one, Matt is a radio enthusiast who likes to record what he hears. Another one of shortwave's informal archivists. And he doesn't just record shortwave, he records all sorts of radio. In fact, I first reached out to him when I was reporting season one because I found some clips he'd recorded from Salem Media Group during the Capitol Rio. Back then, I didn't even know shortwave was still a thing. Matt listens to the radio all the time. Aviation radio, police and fire scanners and lots of shortwave. And like a lot of the folks who sent us the voice memos we played at the end of the last episode, he was especially excited when he was flipping through the shortwave band and heard on the Media, which we've been airing on a short wave station, wrmi, out of Florida for several months.

[Katya Rogers]

Hi, WRMI listeners, My name is.

[Katie Thornton]

My name is Katya Rogers and I'm the executive producer of on the Media.

[Katya Rogers]

Right now we're making a podcast and.

[Bennett Cobb]

A radio series all about short wave radio.

[Katie Thornton]

Meta, huh? People have been writing us in. It's nice. Good. I was surprised at how many people were just so thrilled to hear it on there. On the Media is different than what you'd normally hear on a lot of it. It's not God stuff and it's not right wing talk.

[Bennett Cobb]

It's something different.

[Katie Thornton]

It's not that Matt hates the God stuff or the right wing talk, but like so many shortwave fans, he got into it for the surprise. The worldliness in the last several decades, as lots of countries have backed away from their government run services. And the private stations have been dominated by big names like Brother Stair or World's Last Chance who snatch up tons of cheap airtime in bulk. There's just not as much variety anymore. And that's why Matt and lots of other shortwave lovers have taken a special interest in shortwave pirates. You know, people broadcasting without a license to do so. To be clear, broadcasting without a license is illegal. We're not advocating for it. And if you do it on, say, the FM dial, where there are relatively few frequencies and lots of licensed stations whose owners hate interference, the FCC comes down on you pretty hard and fast. But on the shortwave frequencies, there's plenty of free space and Almost no policing. 1, 2, 3.

[Bennett Cobb]

Can anybody hear me? Can anybody hear me? David, this is sound 64015. Let your friends know.

[Katie Thornton]

Matt has this thing called a software defined radio. Basically, it's a radio he plugs into a computer so he doesn't have to sit there and turn through every possible frequency. And through long stretches of static, he can plug this thing into a computer screen and see what frequencies are active and then click over and listen. He can also use it to record not just a single station, but a whole stretch of shortwave frequencies, like as if you TiVo'd every channel. It's pretty cool. So technically, Matt and I sat down on January 3rd of this year, but we were surfing the airwaves from a few nights prior New Year's Eve, because holidays are known as especially active times for shortwave radio pirates. All right, you're tuned in to Psycho.

[Bennett Cobb]

Radio New Year's Eve extravaganza.

[Katie Thornton]

There was a huge variety of music, from old blues to synth pop. Sometimes the people broadcasting just sang along over the recording, karaoke style. Someone popped on right around midnight Eastern time to play a cheesy recording of Auld Lang Syne. Someone else played old Casey Kasem broadcasts.

[Bennett Cobb]

There's one around Christmas that does broadcasting like FDR speeches and some stuff from.

[Katie Thornton]

Kind of that era.

[Bennett Cobb]

I think he even called it wfdr.

[Katie Thornton]

There was one guy who just played the sound of dogs barking over the song Cars by Gary Newman for like an hour. Oh, okay, this is still gone. We were having a really good time tuning in, and Matt had all these other files on his computer from pirates who have taken to the short waves in recent years. Happy Halloween to everybody else there in the ionic radio land. I mean, Halloween's the big.

[Bennett Cobb]

That's like the super bowl of them.

[Katie Thornton]

And it's not just holidays. On any given weekend, any Given day, you can hear a lot of pirates hijacking the short waves.

[Bennett Cobb]

Wolverine and wddr.

[Katie Thornton]

The pirates have been busy. They've made pop up stations entirely devoted to things like bowling or comedy or jazz and bebop. Random stations come and go, like Shrimp Boat Radio, which allegedly broadcasts from a literal shrimp boat. We're talking about anything from politics. Tripping. This is podhouse Radio.

[Bennett Cobb]

You did really expect something.

[Katie Thornton]

Thunder Chicken Radio Radio nonsense.

[Bennett Cobb]

We're Radio Garbanzo.

[Katie Thornton]

Boombox Radio Radio Free Whatever. One person I spoke with described the pirate stations as watering holes where people create the radio station that they always wanted to have. People told me they hear more musical variety on pirate shortwave than they ever do on big screen streaming services. Don't ask who you are. It's another world.

[Bennett Cobb]

The fact is that pirate radio is alive and well.

[Katie Thornton]

This is Bennett Cobb. He's retired now, but for decades he was a trade journalist working the FCC beat. Today he runs a blog covering all sorts of weird stuff that can be found on the radio waves. Suffice to say, Bennett also listens to the radio a lot. And he also hears a lot of pirates.

[Bennett Cobb]

Some of these stations have literally lasted decades.

[Katie Thornton]

He remembers this one he first picked up years ago.

[Bennett Cobb]

I remember that station vividly because the guy running it believed he was the Antichrist. He apparently had some kind of an accident where he cut himself and there was some bleeding or he didn't bleed or something or whatever, and this transformed him into the Antichrist.

[Katie Thornton]

Usually these shortwave pirates aren't bringing you more of the same preaching or ultra conservative talk. For the most part, they've reclaimed the airwaves for something a little lighter. Yeah, for some political conversation, maybe for claims of being the Antichrist, but also just for some fun.

[Bennett Cobb]

The prospect of an international audience for your broadcast, whether you are playing a religious message or you're playing Lydard Skynyrd, is just too attractive to pass up. The immediate appeal is being able to play your favorite music and rant as you like, whether it is pro Christ or Antichrist, and be heard.

[Katie Thornton]

To many in the shortwave world, this is what the future of the medium sounds like. Still scratchy as hell, but unexpected. Freeform. An ethereal space like none other, where people can hear some truly wild material from the other side of the country or the other side of the world. No WI fi needed. But it turns out that pirates aren't the only ones trying something novel on shortwave. There's another group with a very different vision for the future of the airwaves. And if they get their way, the shortwaves might sound less like this and more like this. That's coming up after the break. This is the Divided Dial from on the media.

[Ira Flatow]

OnTheMedia is supported by the New York Community Trust. These days, it's hard to know what the future will hold. Thankfully, there is a powerful way to ensure the causes you care about are supported for decades to come. Join the New York Community Trust to support affordable housing, provide opportunity, improve education, nurture the environment, and more. A team of experts can connect your generosity with nonprofits making a lasting difference. You can turn retirement funds, appreciated securities, real estate and other assets into a force for good. Amplify your impact with community powered giving. Contact the New York community trust at GiveTo NYC. That's GiveTo NYC.

[Katie Thornton]

This is OnTheMedia. I'm Katie Thornton, host of the Divided Dials series. We're right in the middle of the last episode of our second season. Right before the break, I told you that another group has recently shown interest in the short waves. Bennett Cobb told me the story, which begins several years ago. Because he's a huge fan of radio, Bennett likes to read applications that have been submitted to the FCC specifically for what are called experimental licenses.

[Bennett Cobb]

A typical example would be if a satellite examines hydrology, water uses natural resources.

[Katie Thornton]

Basically, experimental licenses are for folks who are trying to invent or perfect new technology that uses radio waves in some way. The FCC lets you apply for temporary permission to use specific frequencies. It's pretty cool. Like the federal government sets aside some of our airwaves to see if the next Marconius out there.

[Bennett Cobb]

So many of these are university satellite programs. The other big category would be product development.

[Katie Thornton]

The FCC's rules generally prohibit making money off these experiments, but companies can use them to test out new devices, see if they work before bringing them to market. Like Bennett once saw an application for this thing that looked like a chandelier.

[Bennett Cobb]

But actually contained antennas that would jam communications within your own home. This has something to do with sort of fighting back against WI fi or something. Okay, so instead of telling your kids to turn off the phone and go play outside, you would turn on this massive chandelier, which would prevent all type of electronic use in the household.

[Katie Thornton]

That one didn't seem to go anywhere. Bottom line here though, these are applications to use the public airwaves. So the applications are publicly available and Bennett loves pouring through them. Even if oddball ideas like the anti wifi chandelier are the exciting exception to the rule.

[Bennett Cobb]

I go through hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these licenses, the overwhelming majority of them, are not particularly interesting.

[Katie Thornton]

But a few years back, he noticed that something out of the ordinary there.

[Bennett Cobb]

Were these applications being filed from companies with peculiar names and that nobody knew who they were or what they were doing.

[Katie Thornton]

What were the names of the entities?

[Bennett Cobb]

One of them is called County Information Services, which is the most blase, unavailing name. It's not clear that this station has anything to do with counties.

[Katie Thornton]

And there was another thing that made these applications stand out, the fact that these were shortwave.

[Bennett Cobb]

Because shortwave experimental applications are rare, the FCC grants hundreds of these licenses a month. It's very rare to see one that deals with shortwave at all.

[Katie Thornton]

By now, you all know that shortwave radio waves are really good at covering long distances, thanks to them bouncing off the upper atmosphere and coming back to earth. But shortwaves aren't good for short distances. So things like that anti wifi chandelier, or even most radio sensors for scientific experiments, they wouldn't use the shortwaves. Plus, shortwave, as you've heard, isn't super high fidelity. So seeing even one, let alone multiple, applications to experiment on shortwave, that surprised Bennett, and he wanted to know more. No big deal, because applicants looking to experiment with the public airwaves have to include a statement saying what they're going to do and why.

[Bennett Cobb]

But they're also allowed to make a formal request that that information not be exposed publicly.

[Katie Thornton]

Most of these mysterious applications had requested that the FCC keep that information out of the public eye. And the FCC overwhelmingly obliged. You know, trade secrets.

[Bennett Cobb]

And the fact that the details were withheld made it even more intriguing.

[Katie Thornton]

So Bennett couldn't read most of the contents of these applications, but he could speak, see that the FCC was okaying them. These experimenters were getting access to the air. But beyond that, Bennett had hit a wall until he met a guy with inside knowledge of these applications. And that guy gave Bennett the dirt on these companies with peculiar names and why they wanted to get on the shortwaves.

[Bennett Cobb]

It's private, encrypted buy and sell instructions.

[Katie Thornton]

Buy and sell instructions for high speed international trading, as in stocks, equities, the market. Because when it comes to the market, speed matters.

[Bennett Cobb]

The faster the trade can be completed, the more money that can be made, because these are very small changes in price.

[Katie Thornton]

It turns out there's a corner of the finance world where people have gone to insane lengths to shave fractions of a second off transaction times. Finance guys have invented new fiber optic cables that might go faster than existing Ones they've bored through mountains to lay a more direct fiber path. There is a lawsuit over misuse of microwaves. It's a whole thing. To date, these guys have typically had their computers send these, buy, sell instructions via satellite or the Internet over lightning fast ocean spanning fiber cables. But using those experimental licenses, they found that shortwave signals get across the world faster than the Internet, faster than satellites, a whopping 9 milliseconds faster. According to one licensee, a century old technology won these high speed traders, they aren't looking to broadcast shows or tinker with anti wifi chandeliers. What they're after really is real estate. Real estate on the electromagnetic spectrum. So every time we are listening to the radio, watching TV or using like a banking app on a mobile device, we are making use of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is Natalia Fotich. She's an attorney who works on telecom issues and has written about access to the electromagnetic spectrum, which she says is like an invisible rainbow. The electromagnetic spectrum is basically a spectrum of visible and invisible light. We can see a small portion of these light waves. That's the visible light part. And it sits in the middle of the spectrum. Up above that, in the really high frequencies, you get to things like X ray, which is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, not the Federal Communications Commission. But below our visible light range are all the radio waves. Those are monitored by the FCC and another group, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which manages all the federal government's use of radio, military, aviation, and on the invisible radio rainbow, a lot is possible. Whenever you use your cell phone, whenever.

[Bennett Cobb]

You use a gps, the AOP broadcaster, the Esso broadcaster, the shortwave broadcaster, television.

[Katie Thornton]

Satellite communications satellites for scientific experiments and.

[Bennett Cobb]

Weather, hobby and experimental uses.

[Katie Thornton]

There is the amateur radio, amateur radio, you know, hams doing the walkie talkie thing.

[Bennett Cobb]

There's the radio for business purposes, for police purposes, law enforcement.

[Katie Thornton]

Some frequencies are better for shorter distances, some are better for longer distances. Sometimes it even helps you shop.

[Bennett Cobb]

When you approach a grocery store and the doors open magically, there is a radio transmitter above the door that detects the presence of the person and opens the door.

[Katie Thornton]

All these radio devices, they start with a transmitter. They encode sound or data or images into a beam of this invisible light. On Natalia's invisible rainbow. Imagine like radio coming in on blue and, you know, wifi coming through on green. The light gets sent out on a specific frequency to your home radio set or your cell phone or that little sensor above the grocery store door. Your receiver decodes it and voila the door opens, you check Instagram, you hear the radio. It all happens like that. So radio waves can do a lot. And it turns out the shortwaves, which are basically a circle stretch of frequencies above am, like if you imagine your AM dial going off really far to the right. The shortwaves, while they aren't good for too much, they can do more than just carry scratchy voices. They can carry data codes, instructions for a computer to follow. And that brings us back to Bennett's sleuthing. He knew that these applicants wanted to use the shortwaves for trading, but the trail had gone cold because the fcc, at the request of the guys with the experimental licenses, was withholding information. The details were off limits to the public. That is until 2023, when the parent companies behind many of these experimental licenses got together and made a formal on the record request.

[Bennett Cobb]

They have come out publicly with a petition to the FCC stating, yes, we have been operating these experimental stations for trading purposes.

[Katie Thornton]

These parent companies have names like Virtue Financial Inc. Tower Research Capital llc, DRW holdings llc, Jump Trading Group. And what they said to the FCC was, hey, those secret applications, we're the ones behind them. We've been using them to show that high speed trading is possible on shortwave. And we think it's time that you, the fcc, let us use some of those short waves to do this for real. No more experiments. It's time for us to make some money.

[Bennett Cobb]

And as it grew, they called themselves the Shortwave Modernization Coalition.

[Katie Thornton]

The Shortwave Modernization Coalition. Not radio lovers who love broadcasting, but a bunch of Wall street guys, tech bros, and venture capitalists who want the FCC to let them use the airwaves to make more money. In their vision for the future of the shortwaves, there's no human touch.

[Bennett Cobb]

The trading is arranged by computers. There's not like a human voice speaking. And then of course, you wouldn't know what they were transmitting.

[Katie Thornton]

Nobody could decode it to everyone and everything other than the computers. Receiving, receiving the instructions, data sounds like nothing, maybe some static, just blips between computers. I want to clarify something. The Shortwave Modernization Coalition isn't proposing to do away with shortwave broadcasting. Within the shortwaves, you have some frequencies allocated for broadcast, some for emergencies, some for the ham radio guys, etc. And at this point, the Shortwave Modernization Coalition has only asked the FCC to give them a small portion of mostly unused shortwave frequencies, ones that are currently set aside for things like backup emergency communications. And the FCC hasn't made a final decision yet. But what this group is asking for, essentially is that the FCC fundamentally changed the purpose of this portion of the shortwave band away from public interest and toward private gain. Because remember from season one, the electromagnetic spectrum are radio waves. They're supposed to belong to the public. Natalia Fotich Again, these frequencies, although they're invisible, this invisible rainbow is a public resource, a public resource owned by all of us and regulated by our elected governments, like, you know, national parks or waterways, which means that it should be managed. Always thinking about the public interest. But like water or the land beneath national parks, the airwaves are really valuable. And over the years, more and more of the public land of the spectrum has been privatized, often leased out to for profit corporations like Verizon and AT&T. For many decades, that's been the model of how the US government makes money off this public resource. They lease out these frequencies, often with long lease terms, by auctioning them to the highest bidder. And those companies then use part of the electromagnetic spectrum they're leasing from us to sell us things like WI fi access. Legally, those corporations are still required to serve the public interest. But with things like broadband Internet still unaffordable to many Americans, it's easy to argue that they don't always do that. Historically, this land grab has happened on the more capable parts of the spectrum, the frequencies that are good at, say, carrying WI fi from a 5G tower to your phone. Telecom companies haven't seen the shortwaves as worth trying to get. They're not used to transmit the Internet. A solar flare can knock them out. Even the FCC has tended to ignore them. In fact, right now the FCC doesn't even auction off the shortwaves. You can just apply, pay some fees, and if you qualify, you can get on there rent free.

[Bennett Cobb]

But you see, this is what's so interesting about it. First of all, as the other radio frequencies get more and more jammed up with things like WI fi and microwave and satellites, where is the available real estate? Well, it's in the shortwave. But technology is improving its ability to use frequencies in general, and the trading is a perfect example of that. Who would have thought that shortwave is now fabulously valuable to Wall Street?

[Katie Thornton]

I asked Bennett if he thinks there's any possibility this thing might not go through, that the FCC might say no to the Shortwave Modernization Coalition's request to use some shortwave frequencies for trading. He thinks, not a chance.

[Bennett Cobb]

I don't think that's likely at all. I think in general, this whole area is Such a backwoods that the people wanting to take advantage of it are counting on the widespread lack of knowledge. I think given the predilections of this administration, I think they'll say go knock yourself out, you know, make a ton of money and go have fun with it and we don't care, you know. And the SEC will make major PR gains from that. They're going to announce how they're unleashing American innovation.

[Katie Thornton]

The Shortwave Modernization Coalition's formal petition to use the airwaves for trading is going to force the FCC to look at their shortwave rules for the first time in decades. And so this April, after the FCC opened what they called the delete, delete, delete proceedings in which they asked for public comment on any regulations that people thought could be rolled back very Trump 2.0, Bennett and some buddies, including an old Voice of America guy, they made a parallel proposal.

[Bennett Cobb]

I have recommended that the FCC do what is being done in Europe, which is to reduce the minimum power to a lower power level and a smaller investment and allow.

[Katie Thornton]

The FCC has this old World War II era rule that says that if you want to get a legal shortwave broadcast license, you have to build a station that puts out at least 50,000 watts of power. That's a ton of power, which means it's very expensive.

[Bennett Cobb]

The old rules make it impractical to do this except illegally, which is what the pirates are doing. But I predict that if the power level were lowered, more people would do it. And I say let them do it, let flowers bloom, see what people would do with it. So the big question is, is the FCC going to allow that or will the FCC simply take the Shortwave Modernization Coalition, give them what they want and forget the rest of it?

[Katie Thornton]

The FCC hasn't responded to their proposal yet. And Bennett says all of this doesn't even necessarily mean that the traders can't also get on the shortwaves. You do sort of imagine that there could be a somewhat harmonious coexistence of these entities on the shortwaves.

[Bennett Cobb]

Oh yes, if it's engineered properly.

[Katie Thornton]

Unlike on a lot of the rest of the spectrum, there are still a lot of shortwaves to go around. Bennett says we just have to make space for everyone. It sounds naive, almost fantastical. But honestly, when you describe how shortwave radio works today, in practice it also sounds kind of fantastical. I mean, these are globe spanning airwaves we have to share, not just nationally, but internationally. In fact, there's this group called the High Frequency Coordination Conference, made Up of everyone, from private station owners to government agencies from all over the world. They get together twice a year and decide which countries get to use which frequencies and when. Based on the weather and the sun, it's almost like a radio un. It's all voluntary, nothing's binding. But it's been going on for 35 years, and pretty much everyone adheres to it. Maybe you're asking yourself, why should we care? These frequencies they're proposing to use for trading, they aren't really being used anyway. And even if the traders eventually wanted to grab up more shortwave frequencies like the ones currently being used for broadcasting, do we really care if this weird kind of radio that not very many people listen to anyway, and that has some pretty heinous stuff on it, do we really care if that goes away? And I hear you, I do. Part of me wondered that, too. I grappled with it for a long time. But these airwaves, they're ours. Even when the government lends them out, the idea is that we, the public, get some kind of benefit back. But trading on shortwaves, there's nothing in it for us.

[Bennett Cobb]

These are exclusively private communication links. There's no public interest in it at all.

[Katie Thornton]

And this shift in use, this permission to let people use more of the public airwaves for private gain, it would be in line with this administration's approach to the rest of the spectrum. Earlier this year, Republicans in Congress recommended that the FCC start auctioning off lots more frequencies to the highest bidder. These are frequencies that might have otherwise been used for things like affordable rural broadband. Just recently, Congress introduced a new bill that would require the federal government to auction off a ton of frequencies to offset Trump's proposed tax cuts to the.

[Bennett Cobb]

Rich, would restore FCC auction authority and.

[Katie Thornton]

End our spectrum drought. Going through the auction process would yield.

[Ira Flatow]

Billions and billions of dollars, as much as $100 billion.

[Katie Thornton]

And we need that because we are in a race with China. In reporting this series, I listened to the good, bad and ugly of shortwave broadcasting. And there's lots of ugly, but I'd still rather have that. Then watch the spectrum get handed over piece by piece to various profiteers, or at least, if that happens, give us something back. How about funding public media? The electromagnetic spectrum is the invisible backbone of our media ecosystem, the infrastructure of how we disseminate information. Now, just like Medicare or education or the Voice of America, it's yet another one of our public resources that's being eroded or turned over to private hands.

[Bennett Cobb]

The earth is flat and God tells you so.

[Katie Thornton]

But there is resistance on the shortwaves from people like Bennett and his fellow shortwave advocates asking the FCC to make it easier for folks to broadcast without million dollar high powered antennas.

[Bennett Cobb]

Yeah, but listen to it. It's like a fine watch. They're going to the uk.

[Katie Thornton]

They're showing us that it isn't just bigwig financial guys who get to make demands of our institutions. The rest of us can too. And there's the pirates.

[Bennett Cobb]

Can anybody hear me? Radio 1.

[Katie Thornton]

I'm not saying they're firing up their bootleg transmitters and thinking I'm gonna illegally play dogs barking over Gary Newman tunes to protest the electromagnetic spectrum getting privatized, but in practice, that's kind of the spirit. In my journey into the shortwaves, there's something I kept coming back to the shortwaves may not be the most effective place to insist on continued public access, but maybe for that very reason, it's the most possible place to try. A place to practice putting our foot down to keep the public in the public airwaves. That's it for this season of the Divided Dial. This series was written and reported by me, Katie Thornton and edited by OTM's executive producer Katya Rogers. Music and sound design is by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our Technical director. Fact checking by Graham Hacha this series is made possible in part with support from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. Special thanks this week to Matt Todd who who you heard from at the beginning of the episode for sharing some of his pirate radio archives with us. Amazing with us. And because this is our final episode, we have some extra thank yous. Thank you to Michael Ryan Rennan for the series art to Jeff White at WRMI who helped us get on the media out on shortwave twice a week for nearly a year now. To Steve Uckerman for sound effects to the contributors to and masterminds behind the show Shortwave Listening Post blog, which amasses shortwave stories and allows people to share great shortwave audio from their personal collections and which was really helpful to me as I reported this series and to all of the many, many people who shared their time and expertise with me for interviews and to those who wrote us or left us voice memos after hearing our show on Short wave. Regardless of whether or not you heard from them in this final series, each of these interviews and messages was so helpful in putting this project together. Thanks again for listening. We'll catch you next time. This is the Divided Dial.

[Michael Oinger]

Thanks so much for listening to the Midweek podcast. If you've enjoyed the divided dial. Don't forget to go to your platform of choice and leave OTM a review. It helps us reach new listeners. Also, if you've loved the series and you want more shortwave radio content, Katie and I will be hosting a live event in New York City at WNYC's event space on June 11th. You can find more [e-mail] events and in the show notes for today's episode. Come and nerd out with us on all things radio. It's going to be really fun. Hope to see you there.

[Ira Flatow]

OnTheMedia is supported by the New York Community Trust these days it's hard to know what the future will hold. Thankfully, there is a powerful way to ensure the causes you care about are supported for decades to come. Join the New York Community Trust to support affordable housing, provide opportunity, improve education, nurture the environment, and more. A team of experts can connect your generosity with nonprofits making a lasting difference. You can turn retirement funds, appreciated securities, real estate and other assets into a force for good. Amplify your impact with community powered giving. Contact the New York Community Trust@GiveTo NYC. That's GiveTo NYC.

[Katie Thornton]

This is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.